


Who's Gonna' Love You Like Me?

by hailade



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Drug Use, Dubious Morality, Dystopia, Implied/Referenced Abuse, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-23
Updated: 2016-05-23
Packaged: 2018-06-09 13:56:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6910090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hailade/pseuds/hailade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It only takes Minhyuk one night to fall in love with Hyungwon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Who's Gonna' Love You Like Me?

**Author's Note:**

> wow another minwon fic inspired by the mv how original

It happens at a stupid party, because if Minhyuk’s learned anything in his years it’s that everything important always happens at stupid parties.

Hoseok had dragged him along claiming it would be a good reconnaissance mission and then had ditched him about twenty minutes in for a woman at least twice their ages. It wasn’t like Minhyuk hadn’t expected it, but it still made him annoyed as he had been left like a fish out of water for the past hour, trying to avoid eye contact and just eavesdrop on possibly important conversations like they were supposed to.

Unfortunately interesting conversations were hard to come by, and he was growing tired of hearing about possible upcoming marriages and who was cheating on who. The poor gossiped, but Minhyuk had never heard any of them drivel on about nothing like this before. The luxury of the rich.

“Who are you?” Minhyuk startled at the bored-sounding question turning around in surprise to meet the eyes of Chae Hyungwon.

It’s wasn’t actually as shocking as he made it out to be, considering this technically was Hyungwon’s party, or at least a party thrown in his honor, but with the amount of people crowded into the house Minhyuk figured that the likelihood of actually seeing the boy was low.

“I’m- uh, Minhyuk.” He stuttered, cringing internally at the awkwardness. Normally he was much better at keeping his cool, but hearing rumors about how pretty someone was and seeing blurry newspaper shots of them didn’t really prepare you for the real thing, especially not in this case.

Hyungwon raised an eyebrow, “I’m Hyungwon.” He held out his hand.

Minhyuk stared dumbly, Hyungwon was supposed to be an anti-social, mysterious figure, the bastard son of a powerful man, why was he speaking to someone who shouldn’t even be on his radar.

Hyungwon looked offended after too much time passed by, pulling his hand back and Minhyuk realized that he had left it hanging in his stupor, “Sorry, it’s nice to meet you.” He grabbed back the hand and shook it vigorously. “Congratulations on your promotion.”

Hyungwon blinked and his lips curled into a mocking smile, “Yeah, lucky me.” He scoffed.

Minhyuk hid his shock better this time, Hyungwon should have been the happiest man alive to have the job he now had, it was sold as being a big honor, “What? Not excited to stop the bad guys, keep the peace?” Minhyuk joked, trying to keep the anxiousness out of his voice. The only reason Hyungwon might be speaking to him was that he somehow knew that he wasn’t supposed to be here.

The party had an open-invitation, but that invitation only extended to those that were affiliated with the government in some way.

Hyungwon smiled, “Guess I’m a bad person.” He shrugged.

“I’m sure it's just nerves.” Minhyuk reassured him, secretly feeling excited that maybe he wasn’t content with the way things were, maybe he was a possible member.

“Wanna’ bet?” Hyungwon moved to step away, disappointed in the conversation, and Minhyuk panicked inside, somehow he knew he needed to keep him with him.

“Wanna’ go outside? It’s kind of hot in here.”

Hyungwon looks at him for a second and Minhyuk realizes what he’s just said, “Uhh I mean only if you want to, it’s your party so you probably can’t just leave--”

“Sure why not, it’s stuffy.” Hyungwon smiles softly and begins to maneuver his way through the throngs of people, a few pat him on the back or yell vaguely congratulatory things at him, but most are too preoccupied with what they were doing to notice his exit. It’s strange, Hyungwon stands out so much with his height and looks, but blends in with these people so easily.

Blends in is the wrong term. He moves through these people, like a ghost, like he’s trying to not get noticed. It’s a strange trait to see in these upper-class circles, where Minhyuk is from everyone does it. Keep your head down, shoulders bunched at the neck, and talk quietly or don’t talk at all.

Minhyuk manages to catch Hoseok’s eyes from where he talking to a younger guy by the balcony, as he follows Hyungwon.

Hoseok cocks his head and Minhyuk winks which makes him smile and turn back to the man who looks like he doesn' actually want to be having the conversation that they were having.

Hyungwon doesn’t go to the balcony like Minhyuk thought they would. Instead, he leads them up a staircase and unlocks a door, presumably his bedroom though there are no personal belongings in sight, he pushes aside the white curtains and pulls open the window. Minhyuk shivers at the sudden blast of colder air. Hyungwon climbs onto the roof, and he follows after him with less graceful movements. Hyungwon has done this before.

The view is beautiful, the city is mostly dark, all high ranking officers and families are beneath them and everyone else is asleep, tomorrow is a work day for the normal folk who have to support themselves.  
In the dark, the stars shine brightly, and Minhyuk’s never been one to stare in awe at tiny balls of fire billions of years away, but something about them right now is special, he feels it in his gut.

Beyond the city small fires light up the mountainside, Minhyuk wonders if Jooheon is out there, collecting more flowers or looking for that stupid cloud thing he won’t shut up about anymore.

It’s almost strange how easily they fall from an awkward silence into a comfortable conversation, Minhyuk tells stories about Hoseok’s misadventures, leaving out his own involvement for the purpose of looking good.

It’s comical how quickly Minhyuk starts to care about what Hyungwon think of him. 

Minhyuk doesn’t know why the rumors say Hyungwon is unapproachable, he smiles at his jokes and adds small comments between giggles. It’s cute. He’s never really felt this way about anyone, he’s pretty sure it’s love, but that’s such an abstract concept to him that he has no point of reference to confirm or deny it.

It isn’t until Hyungwon lets it slip that he doesn’t want his promotion, doesn't want to be part of the police force even if it is a non-combative position, that Minhyuk starts to notice the bruises. They’re cleverly covered up in artfully done layers of makeup, but the foundation is smudged from the night and in the faded purple lighting coming from inside the house Minhyuk see’s them all.

He wants to ask, but instead he hands over the flower without thinking. At this point it’s a habit, whenever someone looks hurt, his hand reaches into his pocket for the one thing that he knows will help.

Hyungwon doesn’t look impressed, “I’m not gonna’ kiss you because you gave me a flower.”

Minhyuk ignores his heart beat speeding up at the thought of kissing, and he almost takes the flower back, passes it off as a joke, “Eat it.” Jooheon was the one who said they needed more members anyway, he was still doing what was in The Clan’s best interest.

“This is the worst assassination attempt ever.” Hyungwon sighs heavily like he’s suddenly exhausted, Minhyuk wonders what the other assassination attempts have been, “I’m not going to just eat poison, I’m not stupid.”

“It’s not poison, it will help with the bruises.” He cringes as the words come out, he’s so used to being around Jooheon he’s become insensitive.

Hyungwon just looks at him, raising a hand to touch his cheek idly, “You noticed?”  
“It’s the lighting.” Minhyuk tried to explain, the flower stalk feels heavy in his hand as Hyungwon’s eyes shift curiously towards it.

Minhyuk pulls a petal off, putting it in his own mouth. The buzz comes on slower than it used to when he first started, but it still makes his eyes roll back and his skin prickle.

Hyungwon looks confused but opens his mouth as Minhyuk holds the flower in front of it, allowing him to put it in before chewing slowly. It doesn’t take long for him to start giggling and when he moves onto Minhyuk’s lap to kiss him, Minhyuk kisses back with rigor.

It’s not until much later that Minhyuk will regret this, but for now, everything is fine. 

~

“Hoseok said you got in good with our new esteemed keeper of the peace. How was it?” Jooheon mocks as Minhyuk stumbles into the house later that morning. The flower’s effects are still wearing off and the fluorescent lighting makes his headache worse. He had been hoping to get a few hours of sleep before the confrontation, but luck was not in his favor.

He ignores Jooheon for the moment, sitting gingerly on the bed and pulling his knees to his chest. He rests his head on his legs and closes his eyes, which does little to block out the harsh lighting. His emotions are still scraped raw from the flower and whatever that was with Hyungwon. Minhyuk's pretty sure that he's in love with Hyungwon, which makes him nervous. He's never really known anybody in love, besides The Clan, but that's a different type of love. He can hear the fan swishing and the lights buzzing, but Jooheon stays quiet, waiting for a response.

“He’s nice.” Minhyuk finally says, opening his eyes and picking at his frayed shorts. He doesn’t want to talk about Hyungwon behind his back, it makes him feel guilty. Which is weird because he never feels guilty talking about Hoseok or Changkyun.

Hoseok gives him a strange look from across the room but thankfully doesn’t say anything. It sometimes scares Minhyuk how perceptive he can be, how easily everyone, including Minhyuk, forgets that he isn’t just a pretty face.

“That’s it? He’s nice? No pertinent information about his dad or their plans or anything?” Minhyuk can tell that Jooheon is disappointed and maybe a little mad. He almost mentions the bruises but decides that Hyungwon probably wanted to keep that private, it wasn't something that would probably interest Jooheon anyways.

“Yeah, I don’t think he really knows anything important, he says his dad got him his position to get him more under-his-thumb.” Minhyuk tries to pacify him, “He’s not really big on the whole policing thing, his title’s just for show.” He knows he’s rambling but his brain is all messed up from the influx of new emotions and his body aches from trying to flush out all the flowers.  
“Why would his dad do that?” Changkyun asks. He’d been fiddling around with something in the corner so quietly that Minhyuk hadn’t realized he was there.

“Guess they don’t really get along.” Minhyuk remembers the way the bruises looked on pale skin in purple lighting.

“Why are you acting so weird?” Jooheon mutters, Minhyuk finally meets his gaze and sees the dark circles around his eyes, that’s one thing the flower can’t fix for them.

“I’m just tired.” It's not a lie.

“No you’re not, are you coming down?” Jooheon asks incredulously, the last in the room to realize why he was acting so dimmed.

Minhyuk doesn’t answer, studying the brightly colored swirling patterns painted on the floor. The yellow used to be the brightest but it looked dirty now, Minhyuk would remind Jooheon to repaint it later when he wasn’t being yelled at.

“You know you can’t use any in public, what if someone found out?” Jooheon lectured, waving his hands around dramatically.

Changkyun watched him carefully, “No one found out.” He said, wiping his hands on his jeans and standing up, “I fixed the pipes, we should have hot water now.”

“It doesn’t matter that no one found out, you two were supposed to get information and come back,” He points at Hoseok and Minhyuk, “I think I even specifically told you not to get separated, and Minhyuk comes in three hours later coming down from a trip. It’s like you want to get caught.”

“Oh yeah, information, there’s this guy, Hyunwoo, he might need something from us.” Hoseok grabs Jooheon’s attention and Minhyuk could kiss him he’s so thankful as the tension in the room melts away.  
Changkyun stares for a little longer, but Minhyuk resolutely refuses to meet his eyes, listening carefully to Hoseok’s stories and trying to push images of Hyungwon out of his head.

~

Hyungwon’s first meeting with Changkyun was a coincidence, it also could have gone much better if Minhyuk had been allowed time to prepare and warn both parties of what not to say and do.

Changkyun and Minhyuk are out buying groceries when they literally bump into Hyungwon, who looks annoyed at first, and then surprised.

“Are you following me?” He asks. He’s wearing black so Changkyun is already on edge.

“Conceited much, I’m buying groceries with my friend.” Minhyuk smiles, grabbing Changkyun’s shoulder and pulling him forward.

Hyungwon cocks his head, “Is he from the flower club?”

Minhyuk’s heart sinks as he feels the tension rise, Changkyun begins to twitch in anger beside him, “It’s not a club.” He said, shooting Minhyuk a disgusted look. “It’s a clan, The Clan.”

“Okay.” Hyungwon drawls, twitching like he’s trying to hold in laughter. Minhyuk wants to cringe at the disrespect.

Changkyun doesn’t cause a scene, thankfully, but he does storm off and refuse to acknowledge Minhyuk for a while, finally ending the silent treatment when Hoseok warns him that his sulkiness was getting annoying. Even after the lecture he still looked at Minhyuk strangely, like he was waiting for him to pull out a knife and stab them all in the back.

~

Minhyuk sees Hyungwon often after that, always in public. He doesn’t cover his bruises anymore, and he still doesn’t wear a police uniform, though Minhyuk has seen him with groups of officers occasionally, he seems out of place. The lower class notice it too, gossips are always willing to tell you fantastical stories about him. Minhyuk’s favorite was the alien theory.

The gravitate towards each other eventually, Hyungwon wants more of the flower and Minhyuk wants more of Hyungwon. He gives it to him at first, just a few petals, but when Hoseok starts to question where his stash goes he has to stop.

It’s around that time when Jooheon figures out how to liquidize the flower. It’s more convenient than carrying around the bushels and the effects seem to last longer for whatever reason. 

“Liquid happiness.” Hyungwon says it when he see’s it, “What a novel idea.” 

Jooheon has been on edge lately, worried about the fact that there’s only four of them to combat an entire government. Even with immortality potions it’s a daunting task, Hoseok tells him to calm down, reminding him that they’re in the long haul for the Hyunwoo guy, which just made things worse so Changkyun managed to find a new member. 

Minhyuk isn’t sure how to feel about him, he really only talks to Changkyun and Jooheon. It takes almost a week for Minhyuk to even learn his name, Kihyun, and it’s Hoseok that tells him. Something is wrong with his legs, but the flower helps. 

When he tells Hyungwon about him he’s surprised to hear that they know each other, “Small social circles.” Hyungwon shrugs, “He was at my party.” Minhyuk decides not to bring up the fact that a good fourth of the city was at Hyungwon’s party, invited or not. 

Winter goes quickly, the townsfolk rejoice at the lack of harsh weather, they get too confident. The police force issues a statement disallowing any vendors, gatherings, or celebrations in public. Jooheon tears down any of the signs he can see, stomping and spitting on them. 

It’s Minhyuk who suggests burning something, it was supposed to be a victimless crime. The warehouse was always empty, how were they supposed to know the high general was in there, having an affair of all things. Jooheon and Hoseok consider it a victory so everyone else agrees. Minhyuk tries to forget the woman’s screams as she burned to death. 

There’s no proof it was them, not enough for the police to actually do more than harass them, but word travels fast and soon everyone expects them to to be heroes. It’s overwhelming, being glorified by people who used to consider him a street rat. 

And then there’s Hyungwon’s father, who managed to grab an even higher position of power in the chaos. Hyungwon starts wearing long sleeves again afterwards. 

“Do you want to join us?” Minhyuk asks one day, they’re sitting on a delipidated set of stairs near the edge of town, out of sight. None of the townsfolk ever come here, so the police don’t bother either. The creek runs so thin and muddy, that even Jooheon doesn’t bother with it.

Hyungwon is smiling and Minhyuk wishes that it wasn’t the flower.

“Yeah.” Hyungwon says and then reaches over to grab his hand.

Minhyuk pulls the hand up to his chest, “I’d do anything for you, but you have to be loyal to The Clan if you want to join, it’s not just to get the flowers. You can't treat it as a joke, it's not a joke to us.”

“I hate my dad and I love you.” Hyungwon says, and Minhyuk doesn’t question him anymore, pulling his head closer and kissing him.

~

“He wants to join us.” Minhyuk tells Jooheon when the other gets back from his trip to the mountains. It’s not the best time, he’s upset because there’s still no sign of the purple cloud, but Minhyuk has to do it now before he loses his nerves.

“I don’t trust him.” Jooheon slurs, his pupils are dilated as he grasps Minhyuk’s hand and pulls it up to his cheek, “And neither should you.”

“You’re the one who said we need more people.” Minhyuk protests, remembering Hyungwon telling him he loved him.

“I’ve got an opening with that Hyunwoo guy, he already hates the government, he just needs a cause.” Jooheon rummaged through his bag as he spoke.

“Better two than one.” Minhyuk tried, slowly growing annoyed at Jooheon’s refusal to listen to him. Sometimes when he was sober and the others were tripping he wondered what would happen if there wasn’t the euphoria, how far they could go, feeling that power flow through their veins without being blinded by happiness.

“Have a flower.” Jooheon giggles, poking a bud into Minhyuk’s closed lips.

Minhyuk sighs, opening his mouth and accepting the offering. It hit him hard and soon both he and Jooheon were on the floor, laughing about nothing. The yellow paint looked clean now, maybe Changkyun had washed it.

“Hey, if you’re boyfriend really wants to join, tell him to come tonight.”

Minhyuk whooped in appreciation, jumping on Jooheon and hugging him tightly, whispering nonsense into his ear.

~

“Does it hurt?” Hyungwon whispers in a brief moment of uncertainty. Minhyuk’s heart clenches.

“No.” He lies, “It’s over quickly anyways, just do what Jooheon tells you and you’ll be golden.”

Hyungwon smiled, his eyes crinkling at the corners as he kissed Minhyuk’s cheek, “I’ll be right back, and then we’ll be brothers.”

“That’s a little weird, I don't want to kiss my brother. Members maybe?” Minhyuk laughed, pushing Hyungwon away playfully. His heart soared in a way that it only used to do when he was high out of his mind. 

Authentic happiness, what a novel idea.


End file.
